06/20/2007Castleton Student Richard Despain Honored by Hudson Valley Community College

Richard Despain of Castleton, a 2007 graduate of Hudson Valley Community College’s Paramedic program, was recently honored by the college.

Despain received the Threads Writing Award, which is given to an outstanding contributor to Threads, the college’s journal of student literature and art.

Despain is a flight medic for the New York Air National Guard and is a qualified flight instructor.

Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 70 associate’s degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Science; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and also sponsors an Educational Opportunity Center for academic and career training. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of more than 12,000 students, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and workforce training. Hudson Valley has more than 60,000 alumni.